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Blog postWritten by prominent sociologist David Riesman in 1950, The Lonely Crowd: A Study of the Changing American Character is a sociological analysis that provides an exciting framework for understanding people’s values and motivations, and despite being over 70 years old, it’s still useful today.
Riesman observed that people fall into one of three categories and hypothesized that, at some point, one category would disappear while the other two grew.
The three categories are:
Tr -
Blog postA future-based philosophy. At a time when people feel they have no control over their future and often try to cling to the past or return to an imaginary one that never existed, the following four mindsets enable you to use your imagination, emotions, and abilities much more constructively; to take increased ownership of your future; to learn from the changing world around you; and to see your entire lifetime as a single, expanding school.
Mindset 1: Your future is your property. Whe -
Blog postThe following is an excerpt from the book Collaboration Ground Rules by Dan Sullivan.
For a long time, you’ve wondered if there was a way of doing business that could bypass competition. You realize that the new business universe you’re going to be developing and expanding for the rest of your life starts by looking at everything through the “D.O.S.” eyes of your best clients and customers—their Dangers (things they’re afraid of losing), Opportunities (the possibility of gaining somet -
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Blog postMany years ago, I had a sales call with someone who was referred to me to join The Strategic Coach Program. I got on the call with him, and he told me that the person who referred him said such good things about me but didn’t really tell him what the Program was about. He asked if he could spend a few minutes learning how the Program actually works.
I said to him, “Before I tell you about Strategic Coach, I’d like to ask you a question: If we were having this discussion three years fr -
Blog postThere’s a great and permanent shifting of supply chains from Asia to the Western Hemisphere for American markets. After all, with ports on the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf of Mexico, shipping north from south of the U.S. border is much more reliable.
Strategic Coach clients in Guatemala and Colombia with big textile companies used to market heavily to attract clients. Recently, however, clients have been coming to them. Now, they just need to keep up with demand.
During the pan -
Blog postCredibility is an essential factor for growth in the marketplace, and while it can take years to develop, it can be destroyed in moments.
Protect your credibility with filters. The people you surround yourself with represent you and what you value. Think about whether that new team member, client, partner, or investor is an asset or a liability when it comes to your credibility and reputation.
Strategic Coach has protected its strong reputation by clearly communicating who’s a -
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Blog postThinking about life after entrepreneurship can be scary, and you may even battle some feelings of unworthiness as you ask yourself, “Was it just luck?” This can lead some entrepreneurs down the endless road of wanting to prove themselves.
Life after selling your business can still be filled with purpose because you have value and knowledge to impart to others who want to walk your path but don’t yet have the capability. And, of course, you can continue to develop new capabilities of y -
Blog postThe following is an excerpt from the book Collaboration Ground Rules by Dan Sullivan coming out in March 2022.
Since we founded Strategic Coach over 30 years ago, we’ve had many experiences of being collaborative with other organizations regardless of whether they’ve reciprocated.
In fact, we’ll happily promote something really good that someone else is doing even if we’re not expecting any kind of reward for doing so.
When you step forward and volunteer, you create op -
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Blog postChad Willardson recently joined us on the Inside Strategic Coach podcast. As a father, entrepreneur, and financial expert, he’s passionate about showing parents how to teach financial principles to kids. This is the stuff that kids don’t get taught in school, and this mission is timely as parents step back and evaluate what’s being taught to their kids, who is teaching them, and if it’s what they want.
As entrepreneurial parents, we have the freedom to raise our kids according to the -
Blog postThere was a period of history where people’s perspectives stayed relatively the same for at least 50 or 60 years. Then, it started to fray at the edges with the emergence of microchip-enabled technology, personal computers, software, the internet, and smartphones.
The way we’ve thought about and organized our world—essentially unchanged since the end of World War II—has now changed. As a result, we’re experiencing a divergence based on how people work, leverage opportunities, and orga -
Blog postThere are two ways of looking at the world—through the lens of time and effort, and through the lens of results. Most people find security in the guaranteed income a job provides, and they don’t have the desire to take on the risk of owning a business.
As an entrepreneur, you’ve chosen to cross the risk line into what we call “The Results Economy.” In this economy, there is no guaranteed income—only the opportunities you create for yourself. For you, it’s all about maximizing results -
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Blog postTo learn how to overcome failure as an entrepreneur, you must first take 100% responsibility for yourself. That means cultivating the capability to choose how you respond to painful experiences or what you’re currently calling “failures.”
At any given time or in any situation, entrepreneurs must consciously choose how to respond to their experiences. It’s essential to recognize that you’re not in control of the situation itself, only your response to it, if you want to overcome failur -
Blog postThe difference between self-confidence and self-esteem is an important one. See, self-esteem is a wish, whereas self-confidence is a fact. Self-esteem is made up without outside proof, and self-confidence is a function of measuring your progress based on the improvement of skills, knowledge, and success.
Who you are and what you represent are things you can make up. That’s why programs for boosting self-esteem are valuable for changing the way you see yourself. But self-esteem has not -
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Blog postAn axiom is a Greek word and philosophical term that refers to something so self-evident that you don’t need any proof of it. I have two business axioms for entrepreneurs that guide me in living my life and running my business.
Business Axiom #1: I don’t have to know all the answers. I was born in 1944 on a farm in northern Ohio, and although I was number five in a family of seven children, I had no peer playmates until I started school, which was a six-mile drive from our home. I was -
Blog postStrategic Coach workshops are filled with a diverse group of ambitious and like-minded entrepreneurs representing over 60+ industries, allowing for high levels of creativity, innovation, and breakthroughs. At each workshop, we take time to discuss recommended resources, including recommended reading.
The following list contains 50 Strategic Coach client-recommended titles that touch on all the building blocks of success, including longevity, finance, personal optimization, and busines -
Blog postThe labor market has changed. People are re-thinking what they want to do, how they want to spend their time, and what they expect from the entrepreneurs they work for. Recently, I spoke with Charlie Bassett, entrepreneur and CEO of the luxury grocery chain Bassett’s Market, about attracting, hiring, and retaining great people. Charlie believes that hiring shouldn’t be about who’s got the bigger, brighter sign that says, “We need help.” It’s much deeper than that if entrepreneurs want to do i
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Blog postThe following is an excerpt from the book Your Attention: Your Property by Dan Sullivan.
When we’re fully attentive, we use our capabilities in the best possible way. At these times, we’re at our most skillful, our most strategic, and our most useful.
And it isn’t only the eventual success that leaves us feeling rewarded. It’s also that being fully conscious and attentive while we do the work makes the activity extremely enjoyable.
Someone else might achieve the desire -
Blog postEven the most successful entrepreneurs, those who are at the top of their game, with tremendous achievements and all the benefits that brings to their lives, can feel like failures. They’re depressed and feel miserable about themselves, even though everyone around them thinks they’re amazing and looks up to them as role models.
Why? How are they looking at themselves, and what is their brain doing to put them in this state?
Negative or positive? It took me a couple of years to -
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Blog postShortcuts are the main currency among humans, so it’s critical to know how to provide a shortcut for others. I’ve been on earth for 77 years, and in that time, I’ve gained some insight into when things do and don’t work.
What doesn’t work is spending your life figuring out and doing everything yourself.
The truth is, we’re only good at doing and knowing certain things. If you think you must do everything, you’ll spend your time in frustration and failure, and if you think you -
Blog postMost entrepreneurs get the entrepreneurial bug very early, sometime around or before age ten. They want something and get the complete cycle in their mind for how to get it—buy something to stock up, get customers, and provide a product along with a service. But not all entrepreneurs end up being successful.
What makes an entrepreneur successful? When I think of what makes an entrepreneur successful, I reflect on my father’s journey as an entrepreneur. Initially, he was a farmer, and -
Blog postBuilding a successful brand is highly intentional, yet there’s still a level of magic involved to make it stick.
Think about the queen today. Yes, I mean Queen Elizabeth.
See, when I say “the queen,” you know I’m not talking about the queen of France, Russia, Thailand, or Japan. No. I’m talking about Queen Elizabeth because whether you look at it from the standpoint of celebrity or politics, the monarchy of England has a powerful and successful brand.
When it comes to -
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Blog postThe following is an excerpt from the book Your Attention: Your Property by Dan Sullivan.
I’ve been coaching entrepreneurs for decades, and one of the most significant impacts of our coaching program on our clients over long periods of time is that they get a handle on managing and directing their own attention toward what’s most beneficial and useful for them.
At the same time, they develop an immunity to having their attention pulled away from them by other people or situatio -
Blog postYou know you’re unique in business when you impact people and uniquely create value in their lives.
The link between value creation and your Unique Ability. When you realize you have a Unique Ability, you must prove it by showing that your uniqueness is valuable and positively impacts the lives of others. In other words, people can move more quickly toward what they want because you’re in their life. Therefore, your presence is of utmost importance.
Many people are extraordina -
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Blog postIf you’re feeling overwhelmed and struggle to say no, you’re not alone. Learn how to deal with feeling overwhelmed and learn some simple ways to graciously say no so you can avoid stress, work better within your business, and do more of what you love.
Why we get overwhelmed. One of the biggest reasons we experience overwhelm is because we say yes too much. As entrepreneurs and team leaders, it’s critical to notice how often we say yes and dissect why we feel the way we do when we say -
Blog postOver the past while in this blog, I’ve been telling stories from my life that have made an indelible impression on me because of the important lesson I sensed was at the heart of each one.
People have asked not only how I can remember the stories so many decades later, but how I remember them in so much detail that they can imagine themselves being there.
The “hidden gem” of specific over general. For me, it’s easy to remember these “lesson learned” experiences because I’ve al -
Blog postNowadays, our world is anything but local and linear. It’s more global and exponential than ever. If you want to keep up with exponential growth, creating an exponential mindset is critical.
People who think exponentially tend to have higher incomes and wealth because they constantly seek to expand their exponential capabilities. Linear thinkers may work the same number of hours, but they operate and create more slowly and inefficiently with their limited linear capabilities.
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Blog postImposter syndrome is a common ailment in the entrepreneur community. It can induce symptoms of depression, anxiety, self-doubt, and incompetence in people—despite even the most extensive list of accomplishments and experience.
I’d say half of the entrepreneurs with imposter syndrome are actual imposters. I say this jokingly, but there’s some truth to it. It’s the symptom of a “fake it till you make it” approach. The other half of entrepreneurs with imposter syndrome are high achievers -
Blog postAs a leader, it’s crucial to nip problems in the bud and address team issues early in your business. This is one of the most critical things that entrepreneurs must do. The cost of inaction is high, and team issues can erode your business from the inside out if not handled promptly and effectively.
When poor behavior occurs. Team issues happen when there’s a misalignment of values, primarily when people exhibit behaviors incongruous with the values of your brand and culture.
F -
Blog postWhat’s a longevity mindset, and how does it benefit your life and the way you age?
How long you think you’re going to live is perhaps the most fundamental thought in the human brain.
Adopting a longevity mindset changed my whole notion of the present. It suddenly made life more abundant and made me conscious of the way I care for my body. Now, anytime I think of my current age, I think of 156, the age to which I plan to live. This was double the average lifespan of a male in 1 -
Blog postI’ve always been interested in business organization and structure, especially organizations that provide learning and transformation. Since we founded Strategic Coach over 30 years ago, I’ve looked to these organizations for examples of how to keep clients coming back.
One that I always look back to and that I was a part of myself is the Boy Scouts, which I participated in from the age of 10 till about 13. I loved being a Boy Scout, and I still have the Handbook For Boys that I recei -
Blog postYour business and team are only as strong as your core values. If you dream of a Self-Managing Company, you need a solid foundation to guide how your team shows up, works together, and interacts with clients. Here, I’ll share the importance of core values in business to increase your (and your team’s) freedom in an ever-evolving, increasingly virtual world.
What are core values? Core values are the default way people in an organization or business behave. They serve as amazing coaches -
Blog postWhat’s your business mindset, and is it helping or hindering your growth? In this post, I will teach you about the “transformer mindset,” why it’s important, and how to change your business mindset today and into the future. I also discussed these ideas in a recent podcast I recorded with Joe Polish.
Going into any situation, I consider my business mindset and how I can leverage the wisdom I’ve gained from the past. First and foremost, I treat the past as raw material. In other words, -
Blog postAll growth happens in stages. And in each stage of growth, people hit a point where they can’t grow any further using their existing set of skills and knowledge. I call this point The Ceiling of Complexity. And it happens time and time again, in every stage of growth.
As you progress in your growth, you gain experience by solving problems and transacting business. However, this experience often comes at a price: complexity. Each problem you solve, each transaction you make, and each h -
Blog postYears ago, I asked our clients to describe what Strategic Coach is and what it represents. One word kept coming up: Freedom. In this post, I’ll discuss my concept of the freedom cycle, the four phases of freedom for entrepreneurs, and how the freedom cycle connects to your purpose. This blog is based on a recent podcast that I recorded with Joe Polish.
Entrepreneurship requires courage and a massive belief in yourself to secure your own financial independence. And, when it comes to fr -
Blog postThe following is an excerpt from the book Zooming Ahead by Dan Sullivan.
If you experimented with virtual meetings before the 2020 global pandemic forced many of us to work remotely, you probably found that there weren’t enough people using it to make it particularly useful in your daily work and personal life.
At Strategic Coach, which has offices in three countries, we’d already had some experience with virtual conferencing. It was certainly faster, but because live events w -
Blog postThe pandemic forced us all to make some quick changes to the way we do business. And, if you’re like me, you may have realized that there were things you could do (or not do!) to be more efficient and experience even more freedom of time, money, relationship, and purpose.
In this post, I’ll share three changes I’ve made during the pandemic that will stay that way for good. Then, you’ll learn what 40 entrepreneurs in a recent workshop answered when asked what they’ll never go back to d -
Blog postIs your employee incentive plan doing what it’s supposed to?
We recently interviewed Alex Freytag, the co-founder of Profit Works, an EOS Implementer, and co-author of the book Profit Works: Unravel the Complexity of Incentive Plans to Increase Employee Productivity, Cultivate an Engaged Workforce, and Maximize Your Company’s Potential on the Team Success podcast. In this post, we’ll share how to build an employee incentive plan that works. To learn more, be sure to grab a copy of his -
Blog postAre the things that bother you holding you back from getting things done?
I believe that 90% of any problem you have is that you’re bothered and not doing anything about it. The simple creative problem-solving technique in business (and life) that I’ll share in this post has helped me move past roadblocks in seconds, and I think it’ll help you too.
The problem isn’t what you think it is. Whatever problem you have that needs to be solved isn’t the actual problem. The problem is -
Blog postA number of years ago, I committed to producing one small book per quarter for the next 25 years—or 100 quarters. For each book, our talented cartoonist, Hamish MacDonald, creates drawings that help illustrate the book’s concepts.
Around the time that we would have started work on the eighth book, Hamish had an unfortunate bike-riding accident and fractured both of his wrists and his right arm. As you can imagine, this did not bode well for his cartooning that quarter.
The sit
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